Is this Expertflyer going downhill or am I doing something wrong?
 

Expertflyer is showing D5 on this flight and lots of 9s in other classes but BA says there is no D and the flight is very busy in all classes. POS for my DONE is UK even though originating from Brussels. I tried France POS in Expertflyer (there is no Belgium POS) and got the same result as the below. Am I doing something wrong to get completely different results to BA?

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...80b8dcf0dc.jpg

Maybe QF is just not providing the availability to BA. Have you tried either booking on the AA codeshare or contacting QF directly? Given it is an OW ATW ticket, QF or AA should be able to book and reissue the ticket if you can find availability through them

It's not new or unusual for EF and BA agents to see different availability. Both are front ends to the core data, and BA agents have a different front end to you. POS is the usual explanation but you seem to have ruled that out. There are also time lag issues. Sometimes it's failing to understand any connecting flights and their rules. Sometimes it's because even though D is available there aren't any D fare basis available (though that should not affect a DONE booking). It's usually best to ask the agent to find the next nearest / best alternative, then try again to rebook a few days later.

(For the benefit of those trying to understand the question, the OP has a Round the World ticket on oneworld, which in business class books into D, hence known as DONE)

With an ATW ticket, I would suggest that contacting the operating carrier and trying to book there would be better than just settling for a future date

In relation to the question on whether EF is the issue, I don't think it is. Just tried a dummy ATW booking on the OW website starting in UK and there was no issue selecting QF12

Thanks, both. So, Dave are you saying I can ring the AA ATW desk and ask them to change this ticket even though it was booked through BA? I would rather ring AA than QF since the AA folks at the ATW desk seem to know what they are doing (although I didn't book this one through them because they kept screwing up my email address...but that is another story).

I havent booked one for a while, but have done so in the past. Definitely would give the AA ATW desk a call and see; OW ATW tickets are able to be issued by any OW carrier, so should be possible; if you don't have anything AA related in the itinerary, it might be more difficult

Got it thanks. Will give AA a go and if no luck will try QF.

Two things. AA RTW desk is definitely the most competent at doing this. But secondly, the airlines do not need to make available all D class availability for RTW tickets, there is a get-out clause. I have only actually seen this used by AA in practice, but that also could be an explanation.

Got a flat out no from AA who said I must go to BA. Qantas were more helpful but also said there was no availability on the 24 in D so god knows why EF is showing D5. Its a mystery.

Are they just applying this fare rule?

CAPACITY LIMITATIONS
THE CARRIER SHALL LIMIT THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS
CARRIED ON ANY ONE FLIGHT ON FARES GOVERNED BY
THIS RULE AND SUCH FARES WILL NOT NECESSARILY BE
AVAILABLE ON ALL FLIGHTS. THE NUMBER OF SEATS
WHICH THE CARRIER SHALL MAKE AVAILABLE ON A GIVEN
FLIGHT WILL BE DETERMINED BY THE CARRIERS BEST
JUDGEMENT.

Or is there genuinely zero in D class?

Did you try asking AA for QF12 or AA7387 ? you might get more help if trying to book AA rather than QF. Have you tried asking BA for AA7387

Alternatively perhaps try AA73 which is only 95 minutes later - or if you dont mind an extra sector , may find QF74 from SFO has availability

Did I miss who you are ticketed with? And that you are in fact already ticketed? Both useful bits of info if you'd like informed help.

I believe it's _very_ unlikely you can convince AA to take over an already ticketed (by someone else) xONEx.

If it's not a POS issue then it may be a marriage issue -- are the segments before and/or after this within 24 hours of this segment?

If married segment, can‘t the agent not separate it, rebook then marrying it again?

Thanks for the input everyone. So:

• I am already ticketed with BA.
• I couldn't ask AA anything because they flatly refused to talk with me about the booking since it was made with BA.
• I asked BA if they could find availability with the AA codeshare and the answer was no D class available.
• I don't think it is a marriage issue because I am landing in LAX 5 days earlier and leave SYD 5 days later. On the other hand, the existing booking has two segments, which I will remove, from LAX to ICN via HKK (same day) so maybe that is having an affect.
• I don't really want to go to SFO as I need to be in LA all that day and the stress of a connecting flight is getting too much to deal with.
• I really don't want to fly on the AA flight on a 777 (despite the wonderful AA service).

I think that covers everything.

Let's not forget that in addition to Point of Sale (POS) and Married Segment Control (MSC), Point of Commencement (POC) also matters. Availability these days is a product of POS, POC, and MSC. Unfortunately, looking for availability based on POC seems limited to those with an Amadeus terminal access (not even Sabre).

Definitely a no. A travel agent doing this will be fined and potentially stripped of booking authority. While airlines themselves might get away from the fine of each other, likely the system will cancel segments booked under such violation within minutes. Breaking married segments can only be done under special circumstances such as IRROPS.

Are the LAX-ICN-HK[G] sectors within 24 hours of the LAXSYD sector you want to book? If yes, it may affect the availability. In this case, airline call centre agent can (and should) remove LAX-ICN-HKG first, without saving (ending) the PNR, before looking for LAXSYD availability.

Yes they are. I will ask if they are removing those sectors first. Thanks.

I rebooked to the 25th and removed the HKK and ICN segments. After it was ticketed, I asked if there was now availability on the 24. Computer said no again.

There is another thread on this
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onew...king-tool.html

It's been frustrating me quite a bit recently. I've had problems with AA and JL, but now it seems to have started to affect QR and CX on my latest ex-TYO DONE4. I raised an EF support ticket without any real joy.

It is annoying and makes the tool a lot less useful.
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But how do you know it's not related to POC ?

It may be, but I can't change the EF website to do more than POS. So therefore you're stuck. The solution would be offering POC as an advanced option on EF...

Does any tool offer POC as an option at this point?

When I booked my RTW with BA this was a major frustration. No D availability viewable to them on other OW airlines, despite what EF said, and strangely consistently on routes that they fly. It continued after booking when I asked about changes ( just flights not dates) to the point I just gave up and stuck with the original fights on BA where I had them in the itinerary.

I had similar issues with my ex-CAI QF issued RTW, I had checked all the availability but for half of the flights (QF, JL, AA) QF had different availability to what I saw on EF (or was able to simply go and book on the airline's website and see that they'd book to D). It's pretty annoying with the RTW tickets as they are so much easier to plan and update when you can check the flights in advance.